- Body Language
- Body language and other non-verbal cues say a lot about you and the messages that you give off, and oftentimes they’re done unconsciously
- Positive Body language
- Direct eye contact shows attentiveness
- Slight head tilt
- Rubbing hands together in excitement
- Negative body language
- Crossing arms can show a little bit of a guard, and if your arms are crossed and turned sideways then that shows you aren’t paying attention
- Sitting at a table and tapping your leg or tapping fingers impatiently also shows that you probably are waiting to get out of the situation, and therefore not paying much attention
- Manage your nerves
- Learning how to calm nerves down helps you to improve your communication skills.
- This can be done through some deep breathing, in through the nose and out through the mouth, which helps calms the pace of your heart
- Visualize your success and prepare your mind for it. Consider even meditating before a big important event, and ground yourself to clear your mind and soon communicate more clearly
- Focus on Can vs Can’t
- Communicating our ideas about how we can’t do something gives people a negative view of us, especially when we don’t give any type of alternative to make it happen
- Think about how you can do it. Maybe it has to be a different approach, but focusing on what you can do instead of what you can’t helps you appear more positive and optimistic
- Active listening- Actually listening to what the other person is saying, even if you have something to say, make sure you are still paying attention
- You can show them this by reiterating what the person said or say “Just so I understand it correctly,”
- Write better emails
- Emails are so important because you don’t have the benefit of body language and things can be easily misinterpreted
- Proofread your emails and make sure you’re using proper grammar and spelling, and also make sure that you don’t have a negative connotation.
- Make sure that the email stays personal, and make sure it is concise and even uses bullet points.
- If you have something else you want them to read then use an attachment.
- End with a smiley face if you know them to show that it’s all positive 🙂
- Avoid them and set limits and have boundaries so that they know they can’t just walk up to you and just dump their ideas. Close the door to your office, say you’re running late, connect with me later, etc…
- Don’t share personal information with them because if they truly are toxic they’ll most likely use that information against you.
- Keep it very high level and vague; Don’t open yourself up to everyone at work or whatever environment you’re in.
- Be kind and caring to them, but put yourself above them when conversing and understand that you don’t know what that person’s intent is, and you don’t know when what you say may come back and hurt you.
- Tell your boss and let them observe their behavior and take care of it
